As a pioneering teacher-development program established by Clemson University approaches its 20th year, leaders in the College of Education are creating a complementary initiative also aimed at diversifying South Carolina’s educator pool.
The Center for the Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Educators (CRe2DE), which kicked off in December, is intended to get students from diverse backgrounds interested at an early age in becoming teachers and easing their transition from elementary school through college.
CRe2DE, pronounced “creed,” expands on the mission of the Call Me MISTER program launched in 2000 to recruit and develop at the K-8 level men of color as teachers. The new initiative will cultivate female and male prospective teachers in K-12.
Both programs are intended to expand the pool of Black and Brown teachers in a state where they are underrepresented in classrooms based on racial demographics, said Dr. Roy Jones, director of CRe2DE and executive director of Call Me MISTER.
“The potential is enormous for success and for creating a model that not only will impact the state of South Carolina, but I think nationally because we’re not the only state confronted with a teacher shortage,” said Jones, a provost distinguished professor. “And we definitely are not the only state confronted with student demographic and teacher demographic imbalances by race.”
CRe2DE, designated a Center of Excellence through the state’s Education Improvement Act, went one step closer from idea to reality when Clemson’s proposal for it won a competitive grant from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
The seven-year proposal is funded for the first five years by a grant that covers the full budget of $150,000 the first year, with gradually decreasing amounts through the fifth year. Clemson picks up the difference in years two through five and the center must be self-sustaining after the fifth year. The Sunshine Lady Foundation matched first-year funding.
